That system was briefly this: that the hair derived its length,
strength, hue, and other properties, from the brain; which opinion he
supported by a reference to acknowledged facts--as, that it changes its
hue with the difference of the mental character in the different stages
of life; that violent affections of the mind, such as grief or fear,
have been known to change it in a single night. Science on this, as on
other occasions, is merely augmenting and methodizing facts that the
mass of mankind had long observed--as, that red hair had always been
considered indicative of warm temperament; that affliction, and even
love, were believed to create baldness; and that in great terror, the
hair stands on end. The different ages too, are distinguished as much by
their hair as their complexion, their facial angle, or in any other way.
He was led to this theory first, by observing at school that a boy of a
stiff, bristly head of hair, was remarkably cruel. He professed to have
been able, from a long course of observation, to assign to every
different colour and variety of hair, its peculiar temperament and
character. One mental quality was indicated by its length, another by
its fineness, and others again as it chanced to be greasy, or lank, or
curled. He would also blow on it with a bellows, to see how the parts
arranged themselves: hold it near the fire, and watch the operation of
its crisping by the heat: and although he had often been mistaken in his
estimates of character, by the rules of his new science, he did not lose
the confidence of his disciples on that account--some of them refusing
to believe the truth, rather than to admit themselves mistaken; and
others insisting that, if his science was not infallible, it very rarely
deceived.
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